


A Graduate's Woes

by sarahgirl1998



Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Comedy, Common Cold, Gen, Humor, Mother-Son Relationship, Sick Character, Sickfic, Sneezing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 22:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18669808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Lumpy comes down with a cold before his graduation, but manages to go through with it, and then returns to his mother's home to rest up.





	A Graduate's Woes

Even after he had gotten his diploma, Lumpy still couldn’t stop sneezing. The poor 22-year-old wished that he’d never went to his graduation ceremony, that his teacher would have given him his diploma directly instead. But it was too late, and he was facing the consequences.

Right after Lumpy had gotten a surprisingly high score on his last exam ever, he came down with the worst cold a college graduate could ever have. His nose was bright red, his throat was extremely sore, and every sneeze he released was so loud and messy. And he’d sneezed several times during his speech, but it was probably less embarrassing that the crowd laughed from hearing his sneezes. Can you imagine how much worse it could’ve been if they jeered him instead, like the crowd initially jeered SpongeBob during his attempts at stand-up comedy?

But all that was over. Lumpy hadn’t found a new home yet, so he had to drive back to his parents’ house to rest up. There was no way he would try to look for a new place to live when he was so sick.

“HAAAAAHHHHHHCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Following another massive sneeze, Lumpy blew his snot-filled nose and rubbed it with a tissue. “Uuugh...”

Just as he’d finished blowing his nose, he pulled into his original home, which he hadn’t been used to since he’d spent so long in a dormitory. He killed the engine, pulling out his car keys and opening the car door. He stepped out, closed the door and then trudged over to the front door, placed his hand on it, turned it and pushed the door open.

His mother, Marilyn, who was approaching her 50s at the time, was already waiting for him. “Honey! You’re home!” she said with a joyful smile. “How was the ceremony?”

Lumpy didn’t respond. He just sniffled and walked upstairs, with Marilyn looking at him in confusion.

“Lumpy? Darling, are you... alright?” Marilyn grew worried.

Lumpy made it to his bedroom, pushed the door open... and before he knew it, he was already laying in bed with boxes of tissues by his side. After barely a few minutes had gone by, Marilyn popped her head into Lumpy’s room.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” Marilyn wanted to know.

“Mom...” Lumpy started with a loud sniffle. “I dod’t feel good...”

Marilyn went over to him and felt his forehead. He was burning up, and she gasped in shock. “You’re running a fever!” She removed her hand from his head. “You didn’t go to the ceremony while you were sick, did you?”

“I’b afraid I did.” Lumpy admitted. “I gave the speech, I bight have sdeezed a bunch of tibes, ad everywud laughed at be, but I dealt with it. But it was so, so hard to do...” Another loud sniffle.

“Oh, darling...” Marilyn said sadly, sympathizing with her poor son. “I’m happy you survived it all, but you could use some rest.”

“I sure could.” Lumpy then sneezed again, somehow not spraying his own mother. “AHHHHHHCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Marilyn winced in surprise, then pulled out a couple of tissues and handed him to Lumpy, who was rubbing his nose with his forefinger.

“Bless you, sweetie,” said Marilyn.

“Thanks.” Lumpy continued to rub his nose for a few seconds, then took one of the tissues, blew his nose again and wiped his nose.

“Did you have dinner, dear? I can make you some soup if you’re still hungry,” Marilyn offered.

“Yes, please,” Lumpy said with a nod. “I haved’t eated sidce this bordidg, ad eved thed, I didd’t have buch...”

Marilyn placed her hand on Lumpy’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him. She started to walk out of the room, but before she made it out, she told him one last thing.

“You may have finished college, but I’ll still make sure you feel better in no time at all. That’s what a mom does for her child, darling.”

Lumpy smiled at her in return. “Thadks, Mom.”

And finally, he was all by himself. Lumpy spent these next few minutes sniffling, sneezing and rubbing his nose. At one point, however, Sniffles - who was then 21 and had graduated from college two years prior - came walking by and noticed Lumpy’s window was open. He went over to it and called Lumpy’s name.

“Hey, Lumpy!”

“Hmm?” Lumpy lowered a slightly damp tissue from his nose and looked at the window. Sniffles was poking his head through the window and waving to him politely.

“Hi, Lumpy!” said Sniffles. “Great job on getting that diploma! I had a great time watching you at the ceremony!”

“Do you really thidk I did good?” Lumpy asked with a sniffle. “I was sdeezing so much while I was giving my...” Before he could even get his sentence out, he sneezed again. “HAAAAAAHHHHH-CHUUUUUUUUU!!! AAAAAAH-CHIOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Sniffles giggled when he heard Lumpy’s sneezes. “Gesundheit~!”

Lumpy rubbed his nose again with his forefinger. “Thadk you...”

“To be fair, I’d say your sneezes added a little humor to your emotional speech,” Sniffles mentioned. “The entire crowd must’ve thought so, too, because I couldn’t hear my laughter over theirs!”

“Uh, Sdiffles? Cad I tell you why I was so sdeezy, please?” Lumpy asked.

“Of course, Lumpy. What was going on?”

Lumpy took a deep breath, sighed just as deeply, and confessed.

“I cabe dowd with a code od the day of by cerebody.”

Sniffles’ eyes widened in surprise. “W-What? Really?!”

“It’s true. I really did,” Lumpy said. He wiped some mucus from his dripping nose with a tissue. “Kind of abazidg how I bade it all the way through without adywud questiodidg what was wrodg with me...”

“I gotta say, it is,” Sniffles said.

“But by mom is takidg care of be for a while,” Lumpy then said. “Whed I get better, I’ll fide byself a job, ad thed a... Hahshew!” Despite his mild sneeze, Lumpy’s nose started dripping with snot again. He wiped his nose a few times more with a tissue.

“Bless you,” said Sniffles. “Or do you still prefer Gesundheit?”

“It’s okay, I’ll take that bless you. Thadks.” Lumpy kept wiping his nose. “As I was sayidg, I’ll fide byself a job, ad thed a dice house to live id. Or maybe a trailer udtil I cad afford a dice house...”

Sniffles chuckled at the response, then spoke again.

“That’s a good plan, Lumpy. It’s best not to let illness interfere with your goals. After all, it’s not so hard to deal with; all you have to do is get plenty of rest, take your medicine, and be grateful to your mother, and you’ll be much better.”

“Haah... Choo!” Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger, sniffling as he did so. “You’re makidg a really good point, Sdiffles.”

“Alright, it’s getting kind of late,” Sniffles said. “I’ve got to go home and make my dinner so I can be ready for my workday at the science facility tomorrow. Hope you feel better soon, Lumpy!”

“Thadks, bye.” Lumpy smiled and waved goodbye to Sniffles as he walked away from the window, and resumed his walk home.

After a few minutes had gone by, Marilyn came back into the room, holding a tray with a bowl of hot chicken soup and a glass of water on it.

“Here’s your dinner, sweetie.” She placed the tray on Lumpy’s lap as he sat up. “By the way, I heard you talking to someone a few minutes ago. Who was it?”

“Just Sdiffles. It turns out, he saw be at the cerebody. He was happy for be ad all, but also said I livened it up with by sdeezes.”

Marilyn giggled to herself. “Did he say anything else?”

“He told be dot to let a code interfere with by goals. I wod’t, by the way.”

“That’s my boy.” Marilyn smiled at Lumpy. “Now, eat up; that cold isn’t going to feed itself, you know.”

Lumpy nodded in understanding, then tucked into his delicious chicken soup. He had a few sips of the water every couple of minutes, but it did its part in helping him bring relief to his symptoms.

“When you’re done, you may do whatever you’d like to keep yourself busy,” Marilyn said. “You’re my little college graduate, after all.”

Lumpy smiled at her response and kept eating, sometimes rubbing his nose as he did so. All throughout that night, Lumpy remembered what Marilyn and Sniffles had told him. He may have been sick, but as long as he didn’t have college anymore, it wasn’t that big of a deal. He considered it a little extra time to decide what job he wanted to have, or what house he wanted to buy.

Soon, when he was feeling better, he would have both.


End file.
